


Silent Night

by RaccoonMama



Series: A Future That Wasn't [2]
Category: Steam Powered Giraffe
Genre: Christmas, Dysfunctional Family, Family Feels, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-13
Updated: 2012-12-12
Packaged: 2017-11-21 00:33:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/591430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaccoonMama/pseuds/RaccoonMama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In this Christmas side story of "The Way Things Weren't," Delilah travels with the robots to visit family in northern California...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silent Night

The letter was not the most opportune thing she had been hoping to get in the mail.

Delilah pursed her lips as she sat near the large fireplace in the seventh sitting room, biting the tip of her thumb as she looked over the letter, her mind taken briefly from Rabbit singing a silly little Christmas song he had come up with in an attempt to get Hatchworth to follow along, as Three and The Spine played the piano. Normally, the automatons were lovely distractions, but today...

She looked up when she noticed the four brothers all looking at her, photoreceptors focused on her troubled face.

“Mo-ther?” Hatchworth was watching the most intently, his head tipped slightly to one side. “Is some-thing the mat-ter?”

She blinked at him, then smiled a bit, setting the letter against her knees. “I am fine, Hatchworth. I simply... I received a letter from my aunt and uncle in New Pine Creek. They wish me to come and visit for the holidays.”

That got Three's attention almost immediately, and he immediately bounded up from his spot at the piano to sit down next to her. “Mama, what's an aunt and uncle? Are they nice?”

Amused at his manner, Delilah giggled a bit, smoothing down the springy wires at the sides of his face. “Well, an aunt and uncle are family members who are not directly related to you, but still have some blood bonds. In the case of MY aunt and uncle, they are my Uncle Benjamin, who is my father's brother, and my Aunt Abigail, his wife.”

“That's rather odd, Mother,” The Spine commented, tipping his head to one side. “Do all humans refer to family members in such a manner?”

She nodded a bit, still smoothing down Three's curly wires. “Their three children are my cousins... Christopher, Robin, and Wendy. You will get to meet them when we arrive.”

“That's awful weird,” Rabbit said, puffing steam from along his shoulders. “What does that make any of them t'us?”

The question caught Delilah off-guard, and she pursed her lips briefly before smoothing the blanket she'd laid over her lap. “Well... I suppose that would make Aunt Abigail and Uncle Benjamin your great aunt and great uncle, seeing as how they would be that to any children of mine... and my cousins would be your cousins as well.”

The four of them nodded as one of the servants came forward to pour a pot of tea for her. “Shall I prepare your bags, Miss Moreau?”

“Yes, please, Edmund. And if you would also be so kind as to inform Sean of the trip? I should very much like him to take the train with us, as should the boys require any excess maintenance during the trip, he is the most apt source.”

Hatchworth sat up a bit, the odd little metal mustache Three had fashioned for him twitching on his lip. “But will you not be ta-king care of our main-ten-ance on this jour-ney, Mo-ther?”

Delilah smiled as she adjusted how she sat, tucking her feet neatly up under her. “I shall be handling as much as I can, dear, but it is always good to have a second hand. Besides, it is much colder in New Pine Creek than it is here in San Diego, and I don't wish any of you to have difficulties with functionality due to the weather.”

“What is cold like, Mama?” Three questioned, his bright blue eyes glowing brighter as they focused on her. “Is it fun?”

She laughed, her mood lifting somewhat. "” think you will find it quite fun, darling... though I may have to outfit the lot of you a bit more suitably for it, lest the chill damage your systems!” Then, in an effort to get her boys to really start getting into their trip, she clapped her hands together. “Now. I want you all to start packing! I plan to leave within a day or so, and we need to make sure we have everything with us. You are all allowed to bring one toy, if you wish, and select one of the traveling instruments apiece to bring with us. It shall be a twelve hour train ride, so we do need something to keep ourselves occupied.”

Rabbit was the first to look horrified at the prospect of twelve hours in a space within which they would have little mobility. “Twelve whole hours? But that's so long!”

“I promise that so long as we have ways to while away the hours, Rabbit dear, it will not be so unbearable. Now move along. Why don't you help Hatchworth?”

She smiled and folded her hands across her lap, watching as the boys went off to start packing, just as Sean strode into the room. The Irish man stepped aside to let the automatons pass, his brow arched before he turned to his employer, expression quizzical as he asked, “Miss Delilah? Edmund said I should come down...”

Delilah nodded, moving to stand up, smoothing her skirts in the process. “Indeed he did. Walk with me, won't you, Sean? We've a big trip ahead of us and I would like you to help me prepare.”

* * *

The trip to the train station was, for the most part, uneventful. The clockwork men were on their best behavior, and most everyone living in San Diego now had seen them out and about with their caretaker on more than one occasion. There were the few who were still wary of the sentient automatons, but for the most part, they were met with cheerful greetings and waves and holiday wishes. The boys parroted back the holiday greetings they were offered, only to turn and ask Delilah and Sean constantly why they were being given in the first place.

They didn't hit their first issue until they were about to step into the train car. Though Delilah had booked a private one for them, The Spine seemed clearly hesitant, and even once they had their baggage settled and were comfortably arranged with nearby blankets and small bags holding more winter-appropriate clothing for their eventual arrival, he did not seem comfortable at all.

The first hour, he fidgeted. The second, he became restless. By the third, he was so clearly upset that Delilah scooted Three aside and beckoned him over, making sure there was room for him to settle and place his head in her lap. She imagined it must have been such a strange sight, but for the comfort of one of her adopted metal sons, it was no more unusual than soothing a troubled child.

“Dear, what's the matter?” she questioned softly, fingertips stroking the smooth metal of his head. “You're very warm. Are you overheating?”

He shook his head a bit, lifting one hand to curl long fingers in the soft fabric of her skirt. “It's too close, Mother. There isn't enough room in here.”

Delilah blinked a couple of times, startled. She had never noticed anything like this when they went to town for them to sing, but on most days they simply took an open carriage, and they rarely went if it rained. She supposed that the closeness would be unusual for any of them, but The Spine's reaction was genuinely upsetting. He was afraid. The other three watched their brother in silence, somewhere between bothered by his distress and unsure of how to help him.

Finally, she sighed a bit, still stroking his smooth metal gently, cradling his head with her other hand. “Perhaps if I sang to you, dear? Would that make you feel better?”

“...I would like that. If you sang to me, I mean.”

She smiled, and bowing her head over him, she began to sing, minding that soon, the floor around her was cluttered with her “sons,” all watching her as she sang.

“The holly and the ivy, when they are both full grown... of all the trees that are in the wood, the holly bears the crown.” She smiled when Three and Hatchworth pressed close to her on one side, with Rabbit sitting patiently on the ground near her feet. “O the rising of the sun and the running of the deer, the playing of the merry organ, sweet singing of the choir.”

The automatons listened in silence as she sang, as they always did, their glowing eyes fixed on her. The train rumbled on, and as she continued to sing, she felt The Spine relax a bit under her hand, stilling until she realized he had powered down. Sean laughed a bit from where he sat across from them. “Well, that's one way of dealin' with his nerves, Miss Delilah.”

“I didn't think at all that it would be this difficult...” She sighed a bit, giving a weak smile. “And still so far to go.”

* * *

The rest of the train ride was, for the most part, relatively uneventful. The Spine stayed powered down with his head resting in Delilah's lap, though the other three did have to remain entertained. Sean had attempted to trick them into playing “The Quiet Game,” so as not to disturb their troubled brother, but Rabbit had declared the game boring ten seconds in. Three had chimed in that they should play I Spy, which had – for the most part – kept them busy until their arrival in the small northern town.

There was already a thin coating of snow on the ground outside, and Delilah was giddy to try the new snowsuits she had devised for the four automatons. Though loathe to wake The Spine, she powered him back on, and several minutes later, both she and Sean were working the suits onto the robots, meant to protect their steam heated bodies from the excessive cold outside.

Rabbit was the least agreeable to the process, but in the end, the clockwork band found themselves neatly outfitted, and by the time the train came to a stop at the station, they were fully ready to disembark.

A lone man stood in a neat black suit near the edge of the platform, waiting impatiently for them, and he spoke crisply to Delilah once they were near enough. “The coaches are waiting for you, Miss Delilah. You will be riding-”

“In the first carriage, Miles, I am aware. Sean, would you be good enough to ride with Hatchworth and Rabbit in the second carriage? The Spine and Three dear can ride with me.” She tactfully ignored the old butler's sour look toward her four mechanical charges, waiting until Sean nodded his assent. Once he had, she flashed a brilliant smile. “Very well. Thank you, Sean. Miles... to my family's manor, please.”

The forced smile was hurting her cheeks, and her jaw was beginning to ache from how tightly her teeth were clenched, but at this point, there was no turning back whatsoever. She had every intention to be as sweet as sugar the entire trip, though she had a feeling her family did not have the same intentions...

They just needed to make it past Christmas. Then they could go home.

Powers willing, nothing would explode in the process.


End file.
